Bruins Shut Out Senators 2-0

By Greg in Bruins, Featured, Top Story ⋅ December 22, 2009 at 5:20am ⋅ Post a comment

Tim Thomas stops one of his 29 saves on the night as he earned his 10th win in a row against the Ottawa Senators Monday night. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

With everyone speculating that the Boston Bruins are back to their old ways of losing games and not scoring, Tim Thomas stepped up once again for the Bruins. With of a record of 0-2-2 in the past four games, the Bruins invaded Ottawa and ended their slide. Luckily enough, it was the Senators the Bruins had to match up with, as they have now won all three meetings this season between the two teams.

With the win, the Bruins improved to 17-11-7 and are now six points behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Northeast Division with 41. Meanwhile, the Senators fell to 18-14-4 on the year but are just one point behind Boston.

Most, if not all, credit for the win should be given to Boston’s goaltender Tim Thomas. Thomas was stellar all night as he was able to stop all 29 shots on goal to earn his fourth shutout of the season and 16th of his career. The win was also his 10th straight against Ottawa. His record now stands at 8-8-5 on the season.

On the other side of the ice, Brian Elliott held his own for the Senators, stopping 27-of-29 shots on goal but ended up with the loss, bringing his record to 9-8-3 on the year. Elliott has played the last 15 of 16 games for the Senators as their starting goalie Pascal Leclaire has been out with a broken jaw.

First Period

Erik Karlsson was called for tripping Daniel Paille, and the Bruins were unsuccessful on the power play.

Second Period

Chris Phillips of Ottawa was called for interference of Marc Savard, and Bruins do not score with the man advantage.

Jonathan Cheechoo for the Senators was called for high-sticking on Michael Ryder, and the Bruins were unsuccessful on the power play again.

Third Period

Three minutes into the period, Shawn Thornton took a shot at Ottawa’s goal, and Elliott kicked it out. Patrice Bergeron was there for the rebound and netted his ninth goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

Just ten minutes later, Marco Sturm went around an Ottawa defenseman and drove to the side and scored his 10th goal of the year to give the Bruins their final 2-0 lead. Sturm was assisted by Savard and Zdeno Chara on the play.

With less than two minutes left to play in the game, former teammates on Montreal Steve Begin and Alexei Kovalev got into a fight, and both earned four minutes in the penalty box for the incident.

Game Analysis

It was a hard fought battle for the Bruins, but they came away with the victory. They weren’t able to score on the power play as they went 0-for-3 on the night, but they also didn’t give the Senators any power play opportunities. Both teams were even on shots-on-goal with 29 apiece. Boston narrowly led in hitting with 30 to Ottawa’s 29. The Bruins continued to win face-offs as they won 32 compared to the Senators 24. The Bruins did perform well when they really needed to and even though it was in the third period, they got it done. It was a big win on the road against a division rival and hopefully they can get back on track, again.

Game Notes

Boston’s defenseman Dennis Wideman returned to lineup after missing two games with an undisclosed injury.
Derek Morris was out again for the Bruins, also with an undisclosed injury and Mark Stuart is still out with a broken sternum.
Defenseman Adam McQuaid played his second straight game for the Bruins after making his NHL debut on Saturday.
Senators center Mike Fisher is now engaged with music star Carrie Underwood.

Tags: Brian Elliott, Bruins, Marco Sturm, Ottawa Senators, Patrice Bergeron, Shawn Thornton, Tim Thomas